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Stormy Weather Held Off for 56th Valley of Flowers
Story and Photos By Nichole Richardson
Valley of Flowers 2018 Queen Yen Nguyen of Incarnate Word was sponsored by Cannoli’s Restaurant.
Florissant was shining brightly for the 56th Annual Valley of Flowers parade on Sunday, May 6. What started as a gloomy day quickly turned out to be beautiful and luckily, rain held out until the conclusion of the VOF weekend. Once again, the queen coronation was held at the St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Knights of Columbus Pavilion #2951, with this year’s theme being “Valley of Flowers Celebrates the Muny’s 100 Year.”
Mayor Tom Schneider joked with an excited crowd that his first VOF as Mayor, the Muny was only 60 years old! “What better way to celebrate the City’s beauty than by nominating a Valley of Flowers Queen?” asked the Mayor. Councilwoman Jackie Pagano announced the first responsibility of the new queen and her court would be a dinner held at the Paul F. Detrick Building at Christian Hospital May 7
This year, 17 high school Juniors competed for the title of 2018 Valley of Flowers Queen. A panel of independent judges from another city interviewed the candidates in April and made their decisions as to who would be crowned queen, first runner-up, or special maid. Last year’s queen, Megan Pilla, spoke her closing remarks and thanked the City for a wonderful year and then passed on the crown to fellow Incarnate Word student Yen Nguyen, who donned a beautiful Spring lace and satin floor-length gown.
The new queen was blushing as she accepted her crown and said she was very shocked and honored to have been chosen. When asked about her platform for the upcoming year, she said she was grateful for the opportunity to experience something like this in her life. “I think diversity is so important,” said Nguyen. “Getting people out of their comfort zone is very important as well.”
Nguyen was sponsored by Cannoli’s Restaurant and ironically used to ride in school carpool with former queen, Megan. Pilla’s advice to the newly crowned Nguyen was to “take advantage of every opportunity because it goes so quick! Enjoy everyday and especially enjoy Florissant.”
2015 Queen, Courtney Neisler, was also at the ceremony wishing her best to the candidates. Neisler rode on the Valley of Flowers alumni float during the parade and wanted to reach out to other fromer alum and invite them onto future floats. “This is our second year doing an alumni float and we do have more people on there, but I encourage any former VOF alum to come out and join us next year,” said Neisler.
Prior to the ceremony, other various awards were given out for contests such as Pretty Baby, sponsors, and parade units. The winner of the Pretty Baby Personality contest was Thomas Sherman (parents Thomas and Megan Sherman) and the winner of the Pretty Baby Popularity contest was Margo Sutterer (parents Steve and Kara).
